Polynomial Computability of Certain Rudimentary Predicates

Abstract

The class of rudimentary predicates is defined as the smallest class of numerical predicates that contains the equality and concatenation predicates and is closed under the operations of propositional logic, explicit transformations, and bounded quantification. Two classes of rudimentary predicates are considered. The first of them consists of the predicates whose prenex normal form of a special type has the quantifier prefix of the form $\exists \forall$. Predicates of the second class can have an arbitrary quantifier prefix, but restrictions are imposed on the Skolem deciding functions. It is proved that any predicate from each of these classes can be computed by a suitable deterministic algorithm in polynomial time.